Natural Dyes - An Eco-friendly Concept in Textile Dyeing

Growing consciousness for eco-friendly textile products has caused more interest to the con­ sumers for using natural dyes. Production of synthetic dyes are dependent on petrochemical source and some of the synthetic dyes contain toxic / carcinogenic amines, and are not eco- friendly. Contrary to this, most of the natural dyes with few exceptions are based on veg­ etable/ animal origin and are renewable, biodegradable, energy-efficient and eco friendly. Natural dyes can produce uncommon and soothing shades, and in some cases the shades are enhanced with age during use. They are usually non-toxic/ non-carcinogen and non allergic. However the common drawbacks of natural dyes are its difficult reproducibility, non-uniform shade, poor to moderate fastness and non-availability of standard application methods. For producing eco-friendly dyed textiles natural dyes are being preferred in Japan, UK and USA. Hence, lot of scientific studies have been reported recently for exploring the science and tech­ nological aspects of natural dyeing of textiles. Some scientific studies have been carried out from this laboratory on application of single or mixture of red sandal wood, jackfruit wood, sappan wood, marigold, manjistha and babool as natural dyes both on cotton and Jute. A brief summary of such work with important observation and conclusions are also mentioned for information to the common readers.

Moreover in this paper attempts have been made to precisely inform the common readers, craftsmen / artisan / dyers, students, designers and NGO’s etc about the scientific procedure and practices of natural dyeing of textiles after appropriate mordanting.